The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

I’m reading Richard Feynman again. He’s really quite amazing, for he’s a scientist who’s brilliant in Math, but is able to put key ideas across to the lay person in a simple and understandable way. The book is called “The pleasure of finding things out”. Feynman’s lecture suggests that people who are truly passionate about what they are doing and enjoy the process of doing things, would be good at what they do...Yet so few of us know what we are truly passionate about…

Feynman in his insightful essay “The role of scientific culture in modern society” discussed the relevance of Science today. He left the discussion of positive/negative impact of science/technology to others, but focused on the following two points;

(1) The matter of judging evidence.
Often, we have a preconceived notion of what the ‘answer’ is when we collect evidences to support or refute a hypothesis/theory.

“…before you begin you must not know the answer. So you begin by being uncertain as to what the answer is. This is very, very important.”

Quantitative methods works best for sciences such as physics, mechanics and later biology, geology, anthropology and so on. But Feynman thought that it is difficult applying the same method to economics, and it failed terribly on social sciences – due to a mixture of anecdotes, uncontrolled experiments and experimenter’s biases.

(2) The freedom to doubt
Feynman believed that the most serious question a scientist should ask is about uncertainty and doubt, for “a scientist is never certain”. Instead of asking, “Is this true?”, one should ask “How likely is it true?”. People are terrified with uncertainty. But Feynman asked us to embrace it. Most actions are based on incomplete knowledge anyway, and uncertainty should be accepted as a fact of life. And people who embraces it, will constantly discover and re-discover new stuff.

Do not strive for absolute truth. Because once we decide that we have ‘achieved’ absolute truth, there will be no progress. We must always leave opportunities to alternatives. From a grand scheme of things, human being as a race is only at its infancy. If we fail to acknowledge uncertainty, “we will be chained by to the limits of our present imagination”.

How insightful.

Feynman talked about nanotechnology when the technology wasn’t even available yet. And today we have facial wash that claims that nano tech can help cleanse your pores (dunno true or not).

He asked if it is possible to teach Einstein’s theory of relativity to someone who does not understand Newtonian physics, and his answer is no. Thus most people will never be able to marvel at the wonders of the world from the eyes of Science. In some sense, the general population is no better than the ancient caveman, only with fancier tools to destroy each other.

I have given up reading on quantum physics and other Feynman materials that are more technical. My foundation is too weak to comprehend the bulk of what I’m reading. And I don’t have the interest to sustain me to plough through the basic materials…I am saddened.